The discussion below is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
The present disclosure relates to an implant, such as a cranial implant, for attachment to an edge of a defect in a bone structure and for attachment to soft tissue.
Such implants, which are sometimes referred to as patient specific implants (PSI), are employed for repairing defects in bone structures resulting from e.g. surgery or trauma, tumour and/or a birth defect. The implant may partially or fully close a defect, such as an opening in a skull, protect the tissue underneath, e.g. brain tissue, and/or correct and/or restore the contour of the bone structure. Such implants are generally custom made, preferably adhering to the ISO 13485 quality management standard for medical devices.
Implants may have different origins. For instance, autogenous grafts are taken from one part of a human or animal body and implanted in another part of that same body and allografts are bone grafts taken from an individual from a species and inserted in the body of another individual of that same species. Alloplastic implants are implants made from body foreign material.
All implants have in common that they must be securely fixed to the bone structure. Further, soft tissue in some cases must be securely attached to the implant. Various techniques have been applied in the past for attachment of soft tissue to implants or bone. These can generally be divided in bone plates, suture anchors and stapling techniques.
However, bone plates and suture anchors must be fixed themselves to the bone or implant and they require introduction of significantly more foreign material into the body than the sutures themselves. This is undesired.
Bone boring devices are complex and expensive devices. They require a large operating space and require significant forces for penetrating the bone structure to apply the suture, which may reside quite shallowly in the bone structure. Due to the materials used for allografts, the devices tend not to be suitable for use with other material than natural bone.
Consequently, there is a desire for improvements.